Improved motive poweh



Ionica, in"th`e county of La Salle and State of Illialtrui @twineWILLIAM MEDI) WATSONQ 0F TONIGA, ILLINOIS.

Letters Patent No. 106,523, dated August 16, 1870.

IMPROVED MOTIVI! POWER;

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent' and making part of thesame,

'l'o all'whom 'it may concern: v

Be it known` that I, WILLIAM MEDD WATSON, of-

nois, have invented an Improved Motive'Power for Driving Street-Cars;and I do hereby declare that the' following is av full and exactdescription thereof, whiclrwill enable those skilled in the art tomakcand use 'these-me, reference being had to the accom` panying drawing andletters marked thereon making a part of this description, in which-Figure 1 is an inverted view of-a vehicle orc-ar to which my motivepower is applied.`

Figure 2, an'npright sectional view of the mechanism used to propel thevehicle or car. l

The present invention relates to the novel con-v struction of mechanismdevised to propel land cou'- veyances, but more especially street-carsfor cities, towns, &c., and its `nature will be fully understood by thefollowing description. ,A

A represents the bottom of a carriage orcar; and

K K', the journals of the wheels. v

D D'represeuta substantial frame-work, which supports a main shaft, J',rear journal K', and a shaft, E.`

To the main shalt J is attached a coil spring, J, which is usedas apropelling power, the outer end of the spring being fastened to ,a post,C. y H is au ordinary pawl and ratchet, which is ixed to a gear-wheel,G, so that Jthe spring may be wound up in the usual manner. i

The spring 'J drives tbege'ar-wheel G, and the wheel G drives a pinion,F, onwhose shaft is fixed an endlcss-chain wheel L, tig. 2, and to theforward journal K isxed a similar endless-chain wheel N. l

Around the wheels L N is placed au endless chain o1= belt, I, so that,when the pinion F is rotated, the

belt I will be rotated, and cause the journal K to rotate and move thevehicle forward.

-In order to wind up the spring J, a drum, B, is fixed to the shaft J',over 'which a belt may beput, and driven by any suitable power. l v

In practice, however, when the mechanism is ap plied to drivingstreet-cars, stationary steam-engines are placed at suitable intervals,convenient to the track, so that a belt from said engines may be `pntover a pulley, B, and wind up the spring J in a short space of time, anysuitable device being used Vto relieve the pulley B ofthe belt at theproper time, so as not to break the spring. l In the drawing only onespring is shown, but I i-ntend to use any suitable number of springsthat may be required to secure the requisite amount of" power,

and in doing this it may he necessary to place the springs on `separateshafts, and connect the shafts by gearing, so that oneor all ofthesprings may operate on the car-journals at the Sallie time, and so thata wound spring may have its power applied on the journals between thepointswhcre the engines are placed. It may, however, in some instances,be necessary to equalize the power of the springs, in which aspiralcompensating drum, similar to those in English lever-watches, may beused, or any suitable governor may be applied.

' Claim.

In the construction of mechanism for driving streetcars, the frame A DD, in combination with gearing K, H, G, and F, spring J, and endlesschain I, as described.

WILLIAM MEDD lWATSON.

Witnesses:

G. L. GHAPIN, FRANK M. PICKERILL.

